No Muney, No Problem: Denver Rallies Behind Bocklet to Beat
Lizards

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Brendan Mundorf rose
to his feet, and the Denver Outlaws surrounded him in a huddle. The
first half of Denver’s playoff matchup against Long Island
hadn’t gone according to plan — the top-seeded Outlaws
trailed 8-2 — and the recently minted Major League Lacrosse
MVP wanted to speak his mind.

“He reminded us how much heart we have. How all season
long we’ve never given up, and how we couldn’t do it
now. We came all this way, and we couldn’t go down that
way,” said rookie attackman Chris Bocklet. “He reminded
us, ‘Look, we’ve gotten here. We’ve done a lot of
things right this season. Let’s go back to those things.
Don’t look around and point fingers. Let’s get back and
do this together.’”

The postseason snake-bitten Outlaws had been stung again, and
the door was more than cracked open for the fourth-seeded and
upstart Lizards, who had nothing to lose after backing into the
playoffs.

Only the funny thing was, “together” didn’t
include Mundorf. The league’s second-leading scorer suffered
an apparent foot/ankle injury in practice Friday and was unable to
play in Saturday’s Major League Lacrosse semifinal at Harvard
Stadium. He was relegated to the sidelines, where he constantly
coached and instructed the Outlaws’ offense, which usually
runs through him.

But Mundorf’s passionate halftime speech gave Denver the
spark it lacked in the first half, and the rookies rose to the
occasion. Bocklet, who started in Mundorf’s place, scored
five of his game-high six goals after intermission, while Mark
Matthews tacked on five points, as the Outlaws erased a nine-point
deficit, scoring the final 10 goals to defeat Long Island, 13-12,
in an epic comeback effort.

“Mundorf’s speech was something I can’t
repeat, obviously, but he was getting everybody hyped and real
emotional,” Matthews said. “He couldn’t be out
there, and we knew that. We knew we had to take care of
it.”

And Denver did, propelling itself into Sunday's MLL championship
(3 p.m, ESPN2), where it will meet Chesapeake, which beat Boston in
the second semifinal. The Outlaws’ seventh straight win is an
instant classic, and one that will be remembered for years.

“That has to be the best comeback game I’ve ever
played in,” Bocklet said.

It certainly didn’t look that way just three hours
earlier, when it became clear Mundorf wouldn’t be able to
play. The Outlaws’ final roster was due at Noon, one hour
before the opening faceoff. Minutes before, Mundorf tried going
through drills with the team’s training staff.

“We knew it was touch-and-go, and we knew right then and
there he couldn’t play,” Denver coach Jim Stagnitta
said. “He couldn’t run. So it was a pretty easy
decision, honestly. Believe me, if he could’ve moved at all,
we would’ve had him out there.”

As word spread that Mundorf wouldn’t dress, a soft-spoken
buzz spread through the stadium while the teams went through
warm-ups. A Long Island staff member whispered the news to a group
of fans in the crowd, while Denver went through the motions in a
state of disbelief. The Outlaws’ staff gathered together,
somewhat shellshocked.

From the opening faceoff, Long Island rode the momentum and
Denver had its tail between its legs.

“Certainly [not having Mundorf] impacted our guys early
on,” Stagnitta said. “The first half we were flat, we
were pressing. We didn’t handle Long Island’s pressure
and intensity. We didn’t match it.”

Ryan Young scored roughly five minutes into the game for Long
Island, and the Lizards kept the pressure on. Stephen Peyser buried
one past Jesse Schwartzman running down the left alley, and then
ripped a 2-pointer from the left side that beat Schwartzman high.
Rookie Matt Gibson, who had the flu and barely slept Friday
evening, converted a fancy dive-shot after dodging along goal line
extended.

“At halftime, we just said we didn’t play in the
first half. We really didn’t. It’s not about the sets,
or strategy. It was simply that they were out-playing us. They beat
us to the ground balls. They had more intensity. We didn’t
slide well. We didn’t shoot well. We didn’t do anything
well,” Stagnitta said. “We just said,
‘We’ve got to show some self-respect. Regardless of the
outcome, we’ve got to play at least 30 minutes.’ And we
did.”

Long Island scored four of the first five goals in the second
half to take a 12-3 lead with 12:32 remaining, and it seemed like
the Lizards were more than on their way to the title game.

Then Denver went to work. Somewhat unbelievably, the Outlaws
scored the next 10 and held the Lizards scoreless for the final 27
minutes. It was a monumental rally.

“We just couldn’t get that next goal to stop their
run, and it’s a game of runs,” Long Island coach Joe
Spallina said. “You start looking in the rearview mirror, and
things happen in a hurry.”

Denver locked down defensively by slowing its slides and winning
individual matchups, as defensive player of the year Lee Zink put
the clamps on whomever he was guarding.

“We became a standing-around, iso offense,” Spallina
said. “We were very predictable on that side of the
field.”

Meanwhile, Denver started initiating offensively with Matthews,
and ran two-man games behind with Jordan McBride. That opened lanes
for crease-feeds to Bocklet, who made his college career finishing
on the interior on crisp passes from Steele Stanwick.

“Kid is a stud, man,” Schwartzman said of Bocklet.
“He’s a rookie for us, but he hasn’t played like
a rookie all year. He’s awesome. When he plays well, it
really inspires our team. Chris got off a couple good ones. The way
he scores, it’s unreal. He just finds a way.”

Long Island’s defense “tired out” in the
second half, Spallina said, and it can’t be overlooked that
the Lizards’ gameplan also changed significantly without
facing Mundorf. Brian Karalunas was going to cover Mundorf, but
instead spent most of his time away from the ball.

“It changed what we were going to do,” said Long
Island goalie Drew Adams, who made 14 saves. "Obviously he’s
their top player, one of the top players in the league. A lot of
what we did this week was focused around him. Without him out
there, we made the adjustments. We moved some guys over.

The Lizards appeared to have one final surge before time
expired. Brian Langtry missed wide on a pair of shots in the final
minute. Max Seibald created for himself but missed wide coming out
of a timeout. On a second effort after the restart, Zink knocked
the ball loose.

Controversially, Stagnitta called timeout as Zink gained control
in the defensive end. After clearing successfully, the Outlaws ran
out the final seconds, then celebrated around Schwartzman, who made
nine saves — not unlike how they surrounded Mundorf minutes
before the second half started.

“We were a little tight at the beginning without having
Mundorf out there. It was tough on all of us. But we just buckled
down,” Schwartzman said. “When we buckle down and play
together, we’re a pretty damn good team."

And Mundorf makes them even better. But his status for the
championship game unknown, as Stagnitta said it would be a
wait-and-see situation. Call it a game-time decision.